Canadian Drinkers, Listen: Too-Potent Batch of Gin Is Recalled

Perhaps you recently found yourself at a Canadian bar where you ordered a gin and tonic. Perhaps you felt like splurging, so you asked the bartender to make your drink with Bombay Sapphire.

And let’s say you took one sip and thought, “Wow — that was a superheavy pour.”

If this actually happened to you, there may be a simple explanation.

On Wednesday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced that a recall of Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin, issued the previous day, had been expanded nationwide after officials discovered that one rogue batch had managed to escape the bottling plant much stronger than it should have been.

In emails, Amy Federman, a spokeswoman for Bacardi, which owns Bombay Sapphire, said that “a few cases” hiding somewhere in Canada contained gin with an alcohol content by volume of 77 percent, rather than the 40 percent shown on the bottles’ labels. That means the recalled gin ended up being 154 proof instead of 80 proof.

“Other than the higher than normal alcohol content, the product is within specifications, and there have been no reported illnesses,” Ms. Federman said. “However, we do not recommend consumption of the product.”

The company is asking consumers to return the recalled products to their local stores for a refund. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency offered the same suggestion, and also proposed a more radical one. “Recalled products,” the agency said, “should be thrown out.”

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The new recall affects 1.14-liter bottles of Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin sold in Canada with the lot code L16304.CreditRob Kim/Getty Image

Upon further questioning, Ms. Federman specified that the Bombay Sapphire had been recalled “because the label was incorrect to what was in the bottle.”

The recalled gin, she conceded, “is not unsafe to drink,” though she said the company would “prefer” that customers replace recalled bottles with ones that actually contain the alcohol content stated on the label. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said that there might be “temporary adverse health consequences” from drinking the recalled gin but that “the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.”

The Bombay Sapphire situation was the second time in recent weeks that an alcoholic beverage had been recalled in Canada because it was too alcoholic. In March, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario issued a recall for Georgian Bay Vodka after officials found that one batch, 654 bottles, had an alcohol content by volume of 81 percent rather than the 40 percent stated on its label.

The recalled bottles would have shown up in Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Alberta, Quebec and Saskatchewan, the company said. Ms. Federman emphasized that no other markets, including the United States, were affected.

After investigating, the company said it believed that the overproof bottles had inadvertently entered the bottling line during a short window of time when bottling tanks were being switched out. A valve might have been left open during that time, allowing “high-strength spirit” from one tank to get into bottles during the change, Ms. Federman said.

“We continue our third-party bottler review and will take the appropriate measures to avoid such isolated occurrences in the future,” she said.

Although the company said it believed that very few bottles were involved, officials chose to recall all 1,000 cases of the gin that carry the lot code in question.